Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Our new family member Kilo, who adopted us a few days before Thanksgiving, is doing great and living a happy, healthy, fun-filled life as a kitten should. His beginning was rather rough as I mentioned in my previous post, but you wouldn't know it now! He recovered very quickly from his surgeries. He is really smart and acclimated himself to our home, our other pets and our routine in no time once he was feeling better. He knows his name, the names of our other pets and the word hungry. He has adjusted to having three legs just fine; in fact, seeing him fly by, you wouldn't even notice he was missing a leg until he stops and is still for a moment. He runs and plays just like any other kitten.

He got to know our dog Duke first. The first couple of weeks we had Kilo, he stayed in his cat condo which was next to one of Duke's beds. Duke kept him company and watched over him every day. Kilo would often talk to Duke. The first opportunity Kilo had to get out of his condo for awhile, he went straight to Duke, who was sound asleep on his bed, and smelled his nose. Then he ran back into his condo, which was his safe place. It was so cute. Once he was allowed out of his condo during the daytime, he would sleep in a bed next to Duke's. He tried snuggling up with Duke on his bed, but that was a little too much for Duke. Though Duke is enjoying having a little brother kitten and often gives him kisses, snuggling together is pushing it!

Duke and Kilo

Kilo has been wonderful about giving our other two cats, Chloe and Dusty, their space and taking it slow in gaining their affection. He has been real respectful of their boundaries, unlike the other male kittens we have had. He is winning them over. Though Chloe would only hiss at him for the first few weeks, she will sometimes play with him and enjoys watching his silly antics.And although a bit jealous at times, Dusty has been seen playing with him, watching him play, and they sleep in close proximity to each other during the day.He is a real sweet and affectionate kitten and has brought a lot of love and laughter into our lives. Kilo is a good example of how resilient animals are. We can learn a lot from them.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

As a long time advocate for feeding pets a more nutritious diet, I am so happy to share with you these great resources to help with the deciphering of pet food labels so it's easier to choose healthier pet foods! The non-profit Cornucopia Institute, through research and investigations on agricultural and food issues, provides needed information to family farmers, consumers and other stakeholders in the good food movement and to the media. They support economic justice for the family-scale farming community – partnered with consumers – backing ecologically produced local, organic and authentic food.They came out with a new reportDecoding Pet Food: Adulteration, Toxic Ingredients, and the Best Choices for Your Companion Animals, and an accompanying buying guide.The reportdetails how pet food quality varies significantly among brands and all too often includes unnecessary chemical additives. Even if you don't care to read the whole report, I highly recommend reading Section II - Ingredients to Avoid. This will help you better understand the pet food buying guide, a helpful resource made available to us for free! Check it out!Click here to read what Susan Thixton of TruthAboutPetFood.com, PetsumerReport.com and author of Buyer Beware, says about the new extensive report put out by the Cornucopia Institute on the current conditions of pet food.

Susan Thixton is another great resource to help you in choosing healthier pet foods. She has put out her own (new) 2016 List of Pet Foods she would trust to feed her own pets. This list and PetsumerReport.com, are what support the work of TruthAboutPetFood.com. So for a donation as little as $10, you can get Susan's 2016 List of Pet Foods, which I also highly recommend. Susan is our pet food advocate and crusader, and she is (and has been) doing great work on behalf of all pets and pet food consumers. I've written about her before here and here.These resources are much needed tools in helping pet food consumers decode pet food labels and marketing tactics. Cornucopia Institute and Susan Thixton have done the research for you and created simple and easy to understand lists of the best pet foods and why.

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About Me

Cozy Critters Pet Sitters provides professional, personalized in-your-home pet care. We also provide house and plant care for people without pets. Family owned and operated since 2002. Insured and Bonded.